The Oncoming Darkness: Black Horizon
by bardofthewastes1991
Summary: Perry Hammond, the lone wanderer rises to his highest before falling so much farther than he has ever fallen before on the road of vengeance against the author of the capital wastes many pitfalls and pains.
1. Chapter 1

Perry awoke on a cold hard floor in a dark room, the sound of some far away machinery thrummed away in the black abyss behind him, he was cold and his wrists and ankles felt tight. Perry blinked to clear his groggy eyes. He noticed his frock coat was gone and his wrists and ankles were bound, dark crimson blood soaked the front of his green satin waist coat, his trousers were covered with dirt and burns. And his usually pristine pressed white shirt was soaked in blood and was tattered and sodden with ash.

How had he come to this?, how did things go so wrong?. He looked down to his now dirty, scorched riding boots and tears began to role down his pallid white cheeks and into his salt and pepper five o'clock shadow.

"how far are you actually willing to go to get this guy?", Sarah was tired, they had been walking for weeks now and they still didn't seem any closer to their target. Perry turned to Sarah with a cold empty expression, he seemed almost invisible in the nuclear snow only his gleaming blue eyes and his shiny black boots gave him away. "I swore on your fathers broken body in front of the pride that I would follow Le Grange to the ends of the earth and beyond and make him pay", he stared off into the pure white frontier "this man has taken so much from us he must feel pain, and I shall be its author Sarah".

Sarah was aghast, she had never heard the wanderer speak in such a way. She knew he had lost a lot since project purity and the death of good friends in the ensuing war with the enclave but this was dark even for him, almost twisted. "all this just to kill him, why?!".

"I have no intention of killing him Sarah, I want to make him suffer, I want him to be broken in the gutter begging me to finish him, so I can walk away leaving him to pick up the remnants" perry then turned sharply on the spot and began walking over to a nearby motel. It was getting dark and Sarah knew the wanderer was looking for shelter for her sake and not his. The wanderer never seemed to fear the darkness, for that matter he never seemed to fear anything. Then again Sarah had never been close enough to the wanderer at his most vulnerable moments, surely he had vulnerable moments everyone has at least one weakness.

At fist she thought perry was heading for the motel but then he stopped dead amongst the snow and ice and pulled out a small silver fob with a glowing blue button upon it and pressed it and then he simply stood there with his back to Sarah, his dark green frock coat billowing in the winter air. Sarah was mystified by this behaviour. Then she heard it, an engine roaring in the distance towards them. It faded into existence from the white-out. A large vehicle that looked like a modified tram car with tank treads and painted black it stopped a short distance from them in some trees where it was well secluded from all angles. The wanderer began walking towards the mammoth vehicle then stopped again. Sarah was still rooted to the spot looking incredulously at the wanderer. "are you coming or not?" he said sharply. Sarah could not believe it "how long have you had that thing!?" she barked. He turned to her with a patronising expression"since about a week after the enclave land crawler incident, why?".

Now Sarah was seriously pissed "we have spent nearly two months walking to New York and sleeping in a fucking hole in the ground and you had this thing the whole time!". The wanderer's demeanour did not change. "unfortunately the shadow stalker isn't suitable for the areas we have been through previously, it has no armour or weapons and its off-road ability is limited, the simple fact is its taken the long way round on routes it can actually drive on at top speed just to meet us here where further routes are clear" Sarah looked at him in disbelief "if we had been travelling in the stalker at the beginning we would only have covered half the distance we have by now meaning the trail to Le Grange would be too cold to follow, and her defensive options are limited, she's a rolling camp not a rolling fortress". "but how do you know the routes are clear?". Perry was getting bored of the questions but humoured Sarah none the less "i know they're clear because I hacked into the enclave satellite and used it to map our entire journey to Le Granges stronghold". Sarah was shocked "you know where he is?, were not just wandering on clues?". " of course I know where he is, I can see right into his bedroom with this satellite Sarah, but the stealth module on the stalker prevents all comm's, i cant keep tabs on him while I am in there, he could move any moment." Sarah attempted to interrupt but the wanderer raised his hand and continued, "don't think were going to take it easy now Sarah, we need to keep tabs on Le Grange and clear roads can still be infested with wildlife and denizens, the stalker will be for a mobile base and some short bursts of fast travel, we cannot simply sit inside and speed run our way to New York, we would lose track of Le Grange and a few good hits from a bandits assault rifle would finish the stalker once and for all then wed have no base and no target". Sarah was now too tired to argue and simply followed the wanderer to the stalker in hopes of a decent nights sleep. As they drew near Sarah notice the sheer size of the vehicle, there must have been at least the decks in height an the width looked generous too. There also seemed to be an observation deck on the front of the upper decks as there were glass wrap around walls on the outside. As they entered the wanderer updated his pip boy and then turned to Sarah. "I've updated my info on Le Granges location", Sarah looked puzzled by his remark. The wanderer sighed, "I'm going to switch on the stealth module so we aren't bothered while we sleep". Sarah wondered what this stealth module was but just couldn't be bothered to ask. The wanderer showed her to her quarters and then headed to the bridge. Sarah entered the room wandering whether she would find a decent bed or a grungy bedroll. As she entered she was awestruck. A beautiful art Deco style presidential suite lay before her. The room started with a large octagonal lounge with plush green leather chesterfield sofas and winged armchairs with finely carved rosewood tables and book shelves. To the left was a wide arch leading to a large four poster bed, on the opposite side was a matching dressing room and an en suite Bathroom. She had never seen such luxury and opulence. The wasteland felt a thousand worlds away. Decorative art Deco sconce's and artworks lined the walls, the carpets looked plush and comforting, the deep mahogany panelling on the wall glimmered in the down light. A thought entered Sarah's head, there didn't seem to be enough room on the stalker for more than one of these rooms. This must be his room, his space. The place where the wanderer was simply a man with thoughts, feelings, needs, wants and …...desire. She perused the dressing room, male clothing hung crisp and clean from brass poles on silver hangers, ornate rosewood draws broke the continuity, a dresser with a stool sat at the very end of the room opposite the door. It was hard to think of the wanderer obsessing about his appearance, and just a bit funny too. next she returned to the lounge books lined most of the wall space below the ornately carved dado rail, the wanderer was a learned man she knew but the books in here seemed so much more complex, scientific techno babble and arcane languages, obscure texts. The scribes would kill to see this library. Weird tools and brass contraptions sat around the room on ornate marble topped spindle tables. The wanderer was a true enigma to Sarah. Finally she came to the bed chamber, where he slept, proof he was an actual human that needed rest. She laid on top of the covers, the comfiest bed she had ever been in within seconds she was gone to the world.

The wanderer stood on the bridge, looking out over the now dark wasteland, he was tired, angry and bitter, he looked at all the people he had lost over the past few years. Amata who ran back to the vault with their unborn child, Charon who needed to find his place in the world and of course the brotherhood members who had been lost on the road to an empty victory, his father to a worthy cause. The pain of loss at times scarred the wanderer so deep he could barely contain himself, and so he closed himself to everyone and everything. It was the only way he knew to stop the torment bubbling over and consuming him. When would his number come up, when would it be his turn. He knew he couldn't carry on forever, time had taken its toll on him. Aged beyond his years. He'd managed to hide his failing health from Sarah and the others, which is why he was so angry that Sarah had followed him. He fully intended this to be a one way trip,no going back. And now she was here to watch as the wanderer fell. His drinking problem had become worse, something else he struggled to hide from those around him.

He sat in the command chair and allowed the soft leather to soothe his aching bones, he began to drift in and out of consciousness before finally entering sleep, the final moments of those he had lost playing in his dreams like a twisted lullaby.

Sarah awoke to peace and quiet in the bedchamber, she didn't know how long she had slept but she felt well rested and the fatigue from weeks of roughing it had been soothed by the soft clean mattress. She left the quarters to explore the stalker and find the wanderer.

In her tiredness the previous night she hadn't realised the décor in the stalker, it matched the bedroom exactly, the wanderer was right that the vehicle wasn't built for warfare, it was more like a luxury liner than a practical travel vehicle. This thing really was incredible. It had a library, top of the range kitchen, even an armoury that put the citadel to shame. How had the wanderer managed to build something like this, it was amazing. She made her way to the bridge under the belief the wanderer would be there. But when she arrived it was deserted, she stared out of the window and realised the stalker was moving. It was so quiet. They passed a nearby death claw which didn't even bat an eyelash. She checked what she believed was the navigation console at the front of the bridge. A green button with autopilot labelled above it was lit up solid green, below and left was a digital map with a red line showing the route the stalker was taking. She was beginning to wander where the wanderer was. Then she heard the bridge doors slide open. There he was looking as pristine and aware as he usually was, he silently sat in the command chair in the centre of the room, various stations and consoles lined the room with a few invading the floor facing the window. The wanderer noted the look on Sarah's face and decided to explain what was going on. "I decided to use our time wisely and set the stalker to auto pilot while we were sleeping, this should cut the weeks journey in half at least" Sarah looked at the console then back to the wanderer. "but a death claw was out there, why didn't it see us?". The wanderer smiled. "the stealth module, it renders the stalker invisible, and it dampens sound when active, but the drawback is that no form of communication signal can enter or leave". Sarah couldn't believe it, such a mammoth vehicle rendered completely silent and invisible, technology like this would be invaluable to the brotherhood. The wanderer could tell exactly what she was thinking "I wont be sharing this with the brotherhood Sarah, having tech like this would make them lazy and unable to defend themselves, they'd forget their ability to defend themselves and others, they would simply pass by those in need instead of helping". Sarah didn't like hearing this but understood the wanderers reasoning, they would hide more than fight. She decided to put that idea to bed and focus on the adventure ahead. "so, what's the plan?" the wanderer stood and walked over to a console to the left and back of his chair before motioning to Sarah to come over.

A holographic image grew out of the ether atop the console as she drew near. The wanderer began to brief her on the plan. "this is our current route to New York" he said as a map materialised with a red line etched into the grey black dug into it. "we will use the stalker full time for travel, a change from the previous plan of only using it at night". Then an image of the stalker with a blue aura around it appeared in place of the map. "however we will be using sensor data to detect the road ahead, its risky but if the road is clear of danger we will de-cloak so that we can use the satellite to track Le Grange". A 3D image of New York appeared. "the roads in New York will be too closed quartered to take the stalker into the city, so once we reach city limits we will be leaving the stalker in a safe place under cloak for our return journey". Then a picture of damaged streets similar to inner DC appeared. "we will use the sewer network to traverse the city and enter Le Granges base." "this will be covert ops so no shooting, avoid guards, we will tranquillise Le Grange and bring him back to the stalker before returning to Washington". Sarah nodded to show she understood what the wanderer was saying, "and what are we going to do with him after we return to DC?". The wanderers demeanour became cold once more, "I will deal with him upon our return". Sarah began to protest when the wanderer raised his hand and silenced her. "I will not be killing him as I said before, I will find a way of dealing with him upon our return". Sarah knew better than to argue any further.


	2. The Bad Guy's

Le Grange awoke with a start, he didn't sleep easily these days, after his confrontation with the Wanderer at the edge of the expanse he knew he would be hunted, that his life would be unnaturally short. But he wasn't ready to give up the game just yet he enjoyed giving the old tyrant the run around too much. Le Grange never intended the wanderer to discover his existence but it was too late to turn the clock back.

A knock broke the silence of the night as snow flurries wended their way to the ground outside the window sill. "enter" said Le Grange with a less than enthusiastic tone. A tall man in black combat fatigues and long dreadlocks entered the room, he began to speak with a silky but weathered voice "We checked out that sensor spike in Presidio, you were right it was the Stalker."

Le Grange was now wide awake, "And!?" he barked. The man in fatigues shifted uneasily before replying.

"Its definitely making its way here, but not directly, its almost as if it hits the direct trail for a while before turning off again and going in random directions".

Le Grange mulled the information over before continuing with the debrief, " And what of the reports of the wanderer in Maryland and Rhode island, he cant be in presidio at the same time, he is talented but even he cant be in two places at once".

The man in fatigues hesitated then decided to tell Le Grange of his theories. "Well were looking at a few possible scenarios sir, either the reports from Maryland are false and intended to distract us, which means the wanderer is in the stalker and using an approach pattern designed to fool us into thinking hes wandering aimlessly or...".

"Or what Ulysses!?", Le Grange was ready to flip at how easily the wanderer could leave him and his companions confused.

Ulysses carried on "He could be in Maryland and someone else could be in the stalker as another way of misdirecting us, however this sensor data is weeks old, all sensors after presidio have gone dark, something else that could be the wanderers doing".

Le Grange couldn't believe it. "So what your telling me is that both someone as infamous as the wanderer and a mammoth land crawler have managed to give you the slip, go off the radar grid and could technically knock on our door at any moment, why wasn't I informed sooner!?".

Ulysses had never seen the courier so enraged, "It is not my fault you know full well those sensors send packets of data at best, they take weeks to travel up the network".

Le Grange was past the point of caring about Ulysses excuses, "No matter, were about to get hit hard, tell everyone to pack up".

Ulysses was surprised by the couriers sudden calm attitude

"And where are we headed?

Le Grange turned to face Ulysses, his air was resolute, determined. "Tell them to board the twilights ember, were returning to the divide".

Ulysses was apprehensive at this order but then made for the door.

"Oh and make sure the package from Kimball is loaded into my personal cargo hold, I don't want the others to see it".

Ulysses had hoped the courier had changed his mind about this, he never did like having to be allies with the NCR, but he tolerated tit for the sake of the courier, a man he owed his life to.

"very well sir, I shall have it loaded immediately" with this Ulysses left the room happy to be returning home but annoyed with himself for failing his master.

Le Grange poured himself a whisky and stared at the snow covered and ruined cityscape beyond. This wanderer could be the most dangerous person he had ever pissed off, he certainly respected him, even if they were enemies.

Though Le Grange hated to admit it his back was against the wall, he had thrown almost everything he had at the wanderer and it had failed, the only thing he could do was retreat to his strongest frontier and try to hold the line.

He'd already asked president Kimball for help, but he had refused. Attacking the wanderer would leave the NCR vilified in the north, hampering any future diplomatic dialogue or annexing attempts. Of course this didn't stop Kimball being cocky enough to ask him to deliver a high security package to the divide the next time the twilights ember passed through.

The following morning Le Grange headed down to the staging area to check on the evacuation progress.

He walked out into the centre of central park, industrial lamps lit the ruined leisure spot of the old world. a large air-borne oil tanker hovered over the park blocking out the sun.

Ulysses stood on a raised platform near the loading lifts. His face was calm but nervous as the courier approached.

"Report" the courier shouted over the noise of levitation thrusters and the scrambling of personnel.

"the primary reactor is still in refit sir, but the secondary is online and operating at 91% efficiency, the ember wont move but she's back in the air and the defence systems are working" , Ulysses could tell the Courier was disappointed with the situation.

"And how long until the main reactor is rebuilt?", the courier was obviously in an unforgiving mood but Ulysses decided to give him the bad news none the less.

"two weeks minimum, we also still have structural integrity issues, some decks are still stripped bare awaiting refit and several key systems are still offline" Ulysses knew this wouldn't be enough, the Courier would push him and the rest of the crew to breaking point.

Le Granges answer was short and authoritative, "Not good enough, screw the striped decks and the excess key systems, focus on suring up the structural integrity and rebuilding the reactor".

Ulysses was surprised, the ember was the couriers pride and joy, the Courier must have truly been worried to allow her from dock without full repair and operations.

"And, Ulysses", came the couriers calm voice "four days, and no longer". Le Grange then stepped upon a large loading lift and was raised into the sky, headed towards the cargo door on the embers ventral hull.

Four days Ulysses thought, no way, not if they wanted to take off without coming apart at the seams.

Le Grange calmly strutted along the half finished corridor to the bridge, avoiding missing deck plates and hanging wires.

As he attempted to enter the doors jammed halfway open before stopping. Poor timing for a refit of the entire ship he thought, but the ember needed it, twenty years is a long time to go for a ship with nothing but routine maintenance and the battle in the expanse almost scuttled her for good, he'd never seen her in such devastation.

As he squeezed through the disabled doors he noted how different the bridge now looked. The plain white walls had been re-plated with metallic gun metal grey panels, it was larger too, from the cramped but efficient space he was used to, now a cold cavernous void, gone was his brown leather command chair, replaced with a pastille blue monstrosity with small rectangular consoles either side. All other chairs had been removed, it would seem Ulysses ideology that warriors fight better on their feet was key to this design.

The amount of consoles had increased too, invading spaces here and there at awkward angles. It would seem his bridge crew had tripled from eleven to thirty three and the grey carpet didn't impress either and the front wall being made entirely of glass offered no tactical advantage whatsoever, at least they had listened and installed handrails all over in case the hull decompressed. There was no way he was playing the hold on to your seat game again.

Le Grange tapped the communicator panel on his console, "Quartermaster, how close are we to removing all material from the base?", he waited a few seconds before a reply buzzed through with a female voice "Its fully stripped sir, the last few cases are being loaded now, after that were just waiting for the engineering team with its repairs".

"very well, divert your teams to aid the reconstruction of the reactor, I want to get underway as soon as possible" Le Grange was really annoyed with the engineers by now, how hard could it possibly be to upgrade an engine?.

"Of course sir" chimed the quartermasters voice followed by a beep indicating the channel had closed.

The longer they waited the more they tempted disaster, Le Grange knew the wanderer would be closing in by now, no matter how he was travelling.

The bastard wouldn't give up for the sake of a long walk, he'd just relish the challenge of a long journey fraught with danger.

There was nothing Le Grange could do now but wait, and if there's one thing he hated more than the wanderer it was waiting.

How could Ulysses be so incompetent as to allow the wanderer to give him the slip?, Ulysses had always been reliable, the reason he was Le Granges right hand man.

But lately it had been one cock up after another, perhaps the battle of the expanse had taken more of a toll than Ulysses was letting on.


	3. Ramming Speed!

Perry starred intently at the screen on the stalkers bridge, he'd been watching Le Grange for hours now, he could tell by the way his troops were moving that they were preparing to leave. No matter, as long as the road stayed as clear as it had over the past day he would be able to track the Twilights Ember wherever it went in the world.

Sarah had been bugging him until he set her about watching the sensors, making her feel useful, of course he didn't want her to find out that the stealth module was automatic and that nobody actually needed to watch them. But as long as she was kept quiet and out of the way there was less chance of her getting killed. She didn't seem to realise how dangerous this could get.

The wanderer had considered firing her off in the escape launcher to send her back to safety, but the girl was so headstrong she would only head straight back out into the wastes towards New York again.

The wanderer was mystified, they were all packed up and ready to go, had been for hours. So why weren't they moving?. They must be having trouble with something, the engines perhaps?. Then he saw it, a cargo door in the middle of the ships dorsal wide open, inside an unfinished reactor. This was perfect, the Ember disabled, Le Grange with no way to run.

"Sarah go to the helm and push the gold lever as far upwards as it will go, we need to act fast" he bellowed with urgency.

Sarah complied immediately pushing the lever to breaking point and then being thrown onto her back by the force of the speed increase, the wanderer had braced to the console before leaving the bridge briefly before returning with a strange piece of metal, like a playing card made of brass with random square and triangular holes punched in.

The wanderer then headed towards a console on the left wall of the bridge and inserted it into a slot next to the screen mounted above the console.

Sarah who had returned to her feet stopped next to the wanderer. "what's happening now?"

"Le Grange is trying to make a move, but his ship is disabled, we need to get there before he can leave".

The wanderer began tinkering wildly with the console pressing buttons and pulling levers.

"but how are we going to get there any quicker, you said that the stalker wouldn't be able to drive around New York?" Sarah was starting to worry that the wanderer was becoming unhinged.

"I said it couldn't drive, but I do have an experimental upgrade I've been meaning to test, its only in its infancy but it would be able to get us there quickly", Sarah as usual had no idea what he was talking about.

"I can make the stalker fly but only at a low altitude, if she comes under fire were screwed".

Sarah looked strong and undaunted, "do it", Sarah surprised herself. She had never realised before how much she wanted revenge, but now it was so close she could taste it, she had allowed it to consume her. The wanderers determination to capture Le Grange was all of a sudden understood.

A knowing look passed between them as the wanderer pulled the final lever upwards. The stalker shuddered, bucked and swayed as she took off and re-orientated from the road route to a beeline for New York.

Sarah headed for the armoury with a fire in her soul. As she entered the treasure trove of warfare she felt a pang in her heart, a suit of power armour stood posed on a plinth like a morbid corpse on display, clearly branded on the left chest plate the words "Lyons pride". Sarah remembered gifting this to the wanderer prior to the first battle of purity, how far she and the wanderer had come. A war had left them scarred physically and mentally, she had lost her armour trying to save Gallows and Colvin.

She missed the feel of the cold metal against her skin, she then passed it by, if the wanderer could survive without it so could she. Plus it didn't save paladin cross when her time came, so why bother. Then she saw it at the very back, the wanderers outfit at the very back on a manikin. But it wasn't tailored for a man, it was distinctly female. The shirt, waistcoat and cravat trio were replaced with an open collar blouse and black leather corset combo, the riding boots were high heeled and the black trousers replaced with black leggings.

She stroked the green velvet frock coat, it was soft and supple beneath her fingers.

It all made sense now, why he had allowed her to come, to see his secrets, learn his ways. He was indoctrinating her into the life of the wanderer.

She didn't hesitate, she put it on and then began holstering the various weapons and tools the wanderer had shown her to use in the past, she had become the new companion of the wanderer, just as Amata had done before her, she was ready to leave Sarah Lyons and her destroyed life behind.

Would her father disapprove?, of course he would. But her father was gone, he died saving her from Le Grange, she had grieved and become stronger for it. But she realised that the pain of loss never goes away, not fully at least, and now she wanted revenge, a wanderers trait, the brotherhood would banish her, but she didn't care.

This was personal.

The wanderer once again heard the doors to the bridge open, he was in silent shock at what stood before him.

She had finally understood his intentions. The anger and the bitterness were slashed by pride and elation at the revelation of his subtle nudging and teaching.

They were now ready to face Le Grange, they were closing on him and prepared for the consequences of any action taken.

Ulysses entered the bridge of the Ember, and walked up to the command chair,the lights had dimmed, the Ember was in high alert mode. Was the courier expecting the wanderer so soon?, he was caught by surprise as the couriers chair spun fast to face him.

"is it ready" the couriers patience had obviously run dry.

"as ready as we can get her under the circumstances", Ulysses was nervous, this would either work and they could reach the divide within a week, or the ship would explode and everyone aboard would be vaporised.

The crew began to take their stations and the courier was about to make the traditional departure speech when the ship was rocked by a massive explosion, Ulysses was convinced his worst fear had been realised, the crew were thrown too and fro, the courier was screaming for a situation report.

The chaos stopped as abruptly as it started.

Ulysses breathed a sigh of relief. An engineer at the back of the bridge was shouting over the ships intercom, pleading for anyone to report what had happened. The courier didn't seem lost, he already knew what was going on.

"he's here!, Ulysses, take a security team to the cargo decks, find him and detain him in the brig, NOW!", the courier was trying to hide the fact he was terrified from the crew but Ulysses knew better.

Ulysses motioned to several security guards to follow him, grabbing an assault carbine on his way out of the bridge.

Outside it was madness, the corridors had already been a hazardous before this, now it was madness. A few hanging wires had become forests of live electrical circuitry, beams had fallen, what few deck plates had been laid were buckled and upturned revealing that the deck below was engulfed in flames, the bodies of dead crew roasting in the corridor beneath.

Ulysses took out his ripper, he would take point and lead his men to wherever they needed to go to find the wanderer, he wanted this son of a bitch bad.

How dare he be so brazen as to come here to the Ember and attack like this. As they came to the ruined stairwell at the end of the corridor Ulysses pip boy lit up, he was being called from the bridge, Le Granges voice came through tinny and slightly garbled "it seems as if the wanderer somehow crashed his land crawler into the Ember through a hull breach near the main reactor, find him, and remember capture only, if he dies, you die" the pip boy then faded back to ambient. Ulysses was pissed, capture only, all he wanted to do was dig his knife into the fuckers face. He kicked a nearby piece of debris before deploying a zip line down the stair well and motioned to the team to follow.

He attached his harness to the line and began rappelling down the decks eyeing the death and devastation on each deck with increasing anger.

The wanderer stood in the middle of the reactor room, the broken corpse of the chief engineer at his feet, he was awaiting the arrival of his escort, probably that idiot body guard with the dreadlocks that he almost finished in the expanse. The trap was set, everything was going to plan, for now.

Ulysses opened the bulkhead before him, his face dropped, the entire corridor was blocked by a giant burning tank tread, how much more punishment could the Ember take?. He back tracked, surely this was a trap, both auxiliary entrances to the core blocked. The only way in was through the main entrance and the wanderer was surely stood facing it with a gun ready. He motioned his team to take point, emery pulled the release hatch.

Within seconds Ulysses was thrown backwards against the wall, his team burned to death before him as shards of metal flew through the air decapitating a lucky few.

Ulysses struggled to his feet, he starred through the flames and the smoke, there he was coldly starring back, barely even perturbed by the embers burning his clothes, the wanderer in all his horrifying glory. Ulysses no longer felt the anger and the confidence he had before, now there was only fear, fear at what the wanderer had planned for him. He wanted to run away, but his loyalty to duty stayed his feet. He picked up his carbine and pointed it at the wanderer, Le Granges words running through his mind, "capture only, if he dies, you die!".

Ulysses put his gun back on the floor and began walking to the wanderer, gradually gaining speed as he got closer, he was now running his fist raised and the wanderer still did nothing, his fist ploughed into the wanderers face and still nothing.

The wanderer fell back wards unconscious, blood streaming down his face.

Relief and amazement came over Ulysses. All the legends, stories and rumours, he took out the lone wanderer with a single punch.

Then he froze, what if it was a trap?, a ruse to fool him. Ulysses decided to be sure. He pulled a small syringe of morphine from his medical pack and administered it to the still bleeding wanderer.

Ulysses tapped his pip-boy "I've got him"...


End file.
